Puppet MastersS


Jet1

Damascus urges UN to immediately halt US coalition strikes, which 'spread chaos & benefit terrorists'


RT
Sun, 28 May 2017 08:29 UTC
US fighter jet
© Erin R. Babis / U.S. Air Force
Syria has demanded an immediate halt to US-led airstrikes after another 35 civilians were killed by a coalition airstrike this week. In a letter to the UN, Damascus says these strikes create chaos and help terrorist launch attacks against government troops.

"Syria condemns the attacks of the alliance which target civilians and cause massive material damage to the infrastructure, facilities, and properties in Syria," the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said in a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General and the President of Security Council.

At least 35 civilians, including women and children, were killed on Thursday night when US-led coalition warplanes targeted the city of Al Mayadeen in the southeastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor province.


Comment: Syria state media reports at least 35 civilians killed in US-led coalition airstrikes in Deir-ez-Zor


Damascus denounced the strike as an attack on "Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity under the pretext of combating terrorism."
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Snakes in Suits

Hillary Clinton has another coughing attack at Wellesley College commencement speech

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Sat, 27 May 2017 23:47 UTC
Hillary Clinton
© Getty Images
Hillary Clinton invokes Nixon in graduation speech.

Hillary Clinton is back in the political spotlight, and taking aim at President Trump who defeated her in last November.

During her Wellesley College Commencement Speech a defiant HRC blasted Trump's first 100 days in office, and then the coughing thing happened again...
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Map

ISIS reeling before Syrian army advances in Aleppo and Palmyra regions

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sat, 27 May 2017 23:39 UTC
Syrian soldiers in Tank
Lightning advances by Syrian troops in recent weeks send ISIS reeling and put Syrian army in stronger position as it races US backed forces to regain control of more and more areas of Syria.

With the situation in western Syria relatively stabilized following the ceasefire and the declaration of the 'de-escalation areas' there, the Syrian army has been able to commit more of its forces to the war against ISIS in eastern Syria.

The latest reports speak of the Syrian army, following rapid advances, closing on the town of Maskanah, ISIS's last stronghold in Aleppo province. Apparently Syrians have now captured Maskanah's railway station, leaving the ISIS fighters in Maskanah with the choice of either retreating from the town or being surrounded.

Further south, the Syrian army is continuing to clear territory around recently recaptured Palmyra, apparently in preparation for a major advance along the main road towards ISIS besieged Deir Ezzor.

Comment: More from Southfront:



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Light Saber

Why Neoliberals are frightened of Duterte defeating ISIS

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Sat, 27 May 2017 00:00 UTC
Duterte
Liberals will never side with Rodrigo Duterte, even if he crushes ISIS in Philippines. Even as he fights ISIS, the western liberal elite and their mainstream media allies have nothing good to say about the Philippine President.

Reports have surfaced that under the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippine armed forces are using guided rockets to blast ISIS targets around the now ISIS occupied city of Marawi. As a consequence, many in western mainstream media are calling Duterte's war excessive, even though the excessive horrors of the ISIS enemy are widely known.

Here's what frightens liberals about a Duterte victory

1. ISIS is financed by drugs

Duterte first incurred the wrath of the US deep state, the EU and liberal NGOs from the west through his tough stance on drugs. Duterte's first war was the war on drugs, but what many do not realize is that it is related to the wider war on ISIS.
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Star of David

Israel: Palestinian prisoners end hunger strikes, main demands met


Sputnik
Sat, 27 May 2017 09:53 UTC
Palestinian prisoners Israel
© Press TVPalestinian prisoners in Israel
Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel have ended hunger strikes following the agreement reached after negotiations between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), The Jerusalem Post reported Saturday, citing the Israeli Prison Service.

In late April, hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli prisons started hunger strikes demanding better detention conditions. In particular, the prisoners demanded ending solitary confinement and detention without trial and the right for more family visits. The strikes even led escalation of tensions between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, with several clashes erupted since the end of April.

According to The Jerusalem Post newspaper, the sides reached an agreement, which guarantees that the prisoners will now have two family visits per month instead of one.

The problem with family visits was reportedly caused due to the lack of finances in the ICRC, which previously paid for the transportation costs and had to cut the funding of second visits. Now, in line with the agreement, the Palestinian Authority takes the responsibility for paying the costs of second family visits.

Comment: The hunger strike lasted 40 days. Other stipulations in the agreement have not as yet been disclosed. The strike was called by imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, to protest mistreatment of 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners.

According to Al Jazeera:
The Free Marwan Barghouti campaign said in statement that "the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike prevailed". "This is an important step towards full respect of the rights of Palestinian prisoners under international law. It is also an indication of the reality of the Israeli occupation, which has left no option to Palestinian prisoners but to starve themselves to achieve basic rights they are entitled to under international law."
See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Trump's unhappy NATO visit as US and Europe drift farther apart

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sat, 27 May 2017 00:00 UTC
Trump meeting
© Fox NewsTelling it like it is; nothing they want to hear.
European leaders annoyed by Trump's calls to increase defence spending, making NATO look too obviously like a protection racket.

Having been showered with compliments in Saudi Arabia and Israel, Donald Trump's visit to Europe where he has met the US's formal allies in the NATO and G7 formats, have gone unhappily.

Despite efforts on both sides to patch things up, it is impossible to avoid the sense that Trump and his erstwhile "allies" don't like each other very much. Not only has Trump had uncomfortable meetings with Merkel and Macron, and not only did his shoving aside the Prime Minister of Montenegro look like a snub, but I doubt that Trump himself realises how irritated most of his European allies are by his constant calls that they increase their defence spending.

Comment: Trump is shaking things up at NATO by presenting the members with a financial argument that they are obligated to accept and rectify...or depart. While it is a correct observation of lax commitments and spotty financial ownership, this uncomfortable confrontation might also afford NATO a chance for redefinition, refocus and relevance - or a complete dismantlement. Either option is preferable to what it is now, a stagnant facade for aggression under the disguise of defense.

See also: Brussels: NATO freeloaders exposed, US protection not without costs

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Attention

Brussels: NATO freeloaders exposed, US protection not without costs

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Fri, 26 May 2017 00:00 UTC
Trumpnat
© InfoWars
It's time for Germany to pay up.Trump campaigned on a promise to reform a very irrelevant, corrupt NATO. The US President told leaders of NATO states assembled Thursday in Brussels a few hard truths...
"Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should. Many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years."
Only five of NATO's 28 members meet the 2% target...USA, Greece, Poland, Estonia and the UK. The rest of NATO are a bunch of freeloaders including the very rich Germany which is set to spend 1.2% of GDP on defense this year, France at 1.79%.

Belgium, Spain and Luxembourg all spend less than 1% of GDP.

Comment: If this is defaulted-upon 'defense spending', what aren't they telling us about the costs and obligations of 'aggression spending'? Surely there is some...

See also: Trump's unhappy NATO visit as US and Europe drift farther apart

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Windsock

Why Eastern Europe tilts to OBOR and Eurasia

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 27 May 2017 00:00 UTC
Orban, Xi
© www.fmprc.gov.cnHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and China's President Xi Jinping
Small but geopolitically important steps were taken by key members of the European Union from the EU's Eastern periphery. While largely ignored in Western mainstream media and in Brussels, they could well portend a longer-term alternative economic space to the failing construct known misleadingly today as the European Union with its bankrupt Eurozone single currency and European Central Bank. I refer to the talks recently in Beijing at the major Belt and Road Forum, between leaders of 29 nations and China's President Xi Jinping with the Prime Ministers of Hungary, Greece, Italy, Spain as well as the President of the Czech Republic and the President-elect of the Republic of Serbia.

The significance of the attendance of these specific European countries is underscored by the conspicuous absence of the leaders of Germany, France (maybe excusable due to presidential elections), and the remaining EU member countries, as well as the absence of the President of the EU Commission.

The list of Beijing attendees confirms that a tectonic fault line is developing across Europe between government leaders opting for national economic growth and development versus the nations whose leaders are still tied to the scelerotic, dying economies of the old Atlanticist order known as the American Century.

Comment: The dynamics of power dictate that as one realm loses relevance and fades, another gains strength and prominence to force it out and take its place.

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Radar

US looking to deploy third aircraft carrier toward North Korea

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 27 May 2017 19:11 UTC
Aircraft carrier CVN-76 Ronald Reagan
Aircraft carrier CVN-76 Ronald Reagan.
One month ago, when we first discussed that in addition to the CVN-70 Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group, the US was deploying two more carriers toward the Korean peninsula, some took the Yonhap-sourced report skeptically: after all, what's the incremental symbolic impact of having three, or even two aircraft carriers next to North Korea when just one would more than suffice. Then, two weeks ago, the report was proven half right when US officials announced that in addition to the first US carrier already on location, the US Navy is moving the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier to the Korean Peninsula, where it would conduct dual-carrier training exercises with the USS Carl Vinson.

After completing its maintenance period in Yokosuka, Japan, the USS Ronald Reagan departed for the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday, according to the Navy. "Coming out of a long in-port maintenance period we have to ensure that Ronald Reagan and the remainder of the strike group are integrated properly as we move forward," Rear Adm. Charles Williams said in a press release. Once it arrives in the region, the carrier will conduct a variety of training exercises but primarily focus on certifying its ability to safely launch and recover aircraft, the service said. In other words, training for combat missions involved the North Korean capital.

We concluded our report from mid-May by saying that the US Navy may soon "further deploy the CVN-68 Nimitz, which was the third carrier reported to be eventually making its way toward Korea."
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Crusader

Pope Francis blasts financial speculators, compares them to mercenaries


RT
Sat, 27 May 2017 19:00 UTC
Pope Francis shakes hands with ILVA steel plant workers as he leaves the plant during his pastoral visit in Genoa
© Giorgio Perottino / Reuters Pope Francis shakes hands with ILVA steel plant workers as he leaves the plant during his pastoral visit in Genoa, Italy, May 27, 2017.
The ever popular Pope Francis was applauded at a steel factory in Italy as he lashed out at financial speculators and called for working people's dignity to be restored.

"The progressive transformation of the entrepreneur into a speculator is an economic illness. The speculator is the same as a mercenary who has no company and sees workers only as a means to make profits," The Local reports the pontiff as saying.

Workers responded to Francis' words with applause and cheers of "Francesco, Francesco."
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